Beltway U. Closes the Doors for the Last Time

By Jefferson Evans and Chuck Triplett

Abrewery is not meant to be a quiet place. A brewery should be filled with a cacophony of sounds from forklifts moving pallets of grain to water hoses washing down floors, canning lines filling cans with beer, and kegs being moved into the cold room. Brewers and assistants yelling, laughing, cursing and cajoling. Supplies being delivered and product going out the door, day after day, until suddenly…it isn’t.

Reached by phone in his office at Beltway Brewing Company after that last weekend open and more than a decade in business, Sten Sellier seems to be really unsettled by the unnatural quiet of the brewery around him.

“Yeah, it kind of feels like that,” he said, when I asked if he was waiting for zombies to come running around a corner at any moment.

But the legacy of Beltway isn’t that unnatural quiet. The legacy of the place that has been kiddingly and seriously referred to as Beltway U., the Beltway Brewing University, is the folks who worked there and went on to continue to be big parts of the beer industry. You know their names. You recognize their faces. Especially in Northern Virginia, they continue to brew and sell good beer.

Whether a young person at the beginning of their beer career, like Bridgette Turner, who started as a bartender in the tasting room and later moved on to brew at breweries like Solace Brewing Company in Sterling,

VA, or an experienced brewer like Kristi Griner, who worked at Capitol City Brewing Company in Arlington and didn’t want to lug around bags of grain any more and was ready to do some sales and consulting. Old or young, grizzled veteran or eager whippersnapper, folks passed through to learn new skills while starting their careers in the industry or to simply earn a paycheck while putting in good work at a company known to feel like a family.

Sten welcomed them all and in the process impacted many people in a lot of positive ways, and that is why so many folks inside the industry and out will really miss Beltway.

In no particular order, the list of folks who worked at Beltway and the names of places they worked at before or after include Erik Peterson (Forge, House 6), Sasha Kingry Gregory (Solace, Mustang Sally), Jeremy Hunt (Dogfish Head, Deep Ellum, Wort Hog, Waters End), Jonathan Reeves (Port City, Jailbreak), Kenny Allen (Old Dominion, Old Ox, Mustang Sally, True Respite), Drew Perry (Double Nickel), Favio Garcia (Bardo, Richbrau,

Old Dominion, Lost Rhino, Dynasty), Michelle McHugh (Union), Ryan Murphy (Lagunitas, Mustang Sally), Brian Stanley (Weeping Radish), Drew Wiles (Solace), and more. So many folks that Sten has trouble remembering them all, especially in the aftermath of the last weekend ending in an emotionally charged Saturday night with many friends and industry folk on hand to say goodbye.

So, what now? First up a possible auction of the brewery’s equipment and supplies, although the potential exists for a deal on the entire brewery and its contents.

Sten himself? He doesn’t know beyond just wanting to take a break and have some time to process it all. The brewery has been a major part of his life for 12 years. Beforehand he worked in designing and selling material handling systems, a background that made getting into brewing feel like a fish jumping into water, a natural fit. Time will tell if the next transition will feel as natural, but with his skill set, confidence is high that Sten will do well, no matter what path he chooses.

Good luck, Sten!!!